Marin County supervisors adopted an ordinance Tuesday that will authorize them to prohibit motor vehicles longer than 30 feet from certain narrow winding roads in the county.

The plan was for the supervisors to first adopt this empowering ordinance and then have them follow it up with a companion resolution on Jan. 23. The companion resolution was to specify that vehicles in excess of 30 feet in length would be banned on Muir Woods Road from the entrance to Muir Woods National Monument east to Panaromic Highway.

People who routinely drive in the area have long expressed concern about buses crossing the centerline of the road on this section of Muir Woods Road; the road features sharp curves and is steep.

During the public hearing that preceded Tuesday’s vote, however, several Marin residents said the ordinance would not fully address the problem and might even make it worse.

Supervisors Kate Sears and Dennis Rodoni said they would take a closer look at their concerns before following up with the companion resolution.

“What we’re most concerned about is this will put more buses on very narrow roads,” said Christian Riehl, a Muir Beach Advocacy Group board member.

In a letter to the supervisors, Riehl’s advocacy group wrote that the plan “only addresses bus traffic on Muir Woods Road from the National Monument up to the Four Corners. This presumably still allows unsafe 30 to 36 foot buses on Frank Valley Road. These buses would then be routed in both directions of the road, resulting in a doubling of unsafe tour bus traffic, both on Frank Valley and Highway 1.”

Currently, most tour buses take an easterly route via Shoreline Highway, Panoramic Highway and Muir Woods Road when visiting Muir Woods. The buses then depart via Frank Valley Road to the west. The fear is that the proposed companion ordinance would cause the buses to enter and leave via Frank Valley Road.

In its letter, the advocacy group said that Frank Valley Road is in extremely poor repair and down to one lane in two sections.

The group’s letter states, “All residents are aware that two large buses cannot safely pass one another on this old winding road. Highway 1 has many blind curves yet none of the safety studies have properly analyzed what happens when oversized buses approach each other head-on around the blind curves.”

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Bob Goralka, the county’s principal civil engineer, said the road is at least 20 feet wide and the buses are 8-1/2 feet wide, “so we don’t see it as a safety issue for buses to pass each other.”

Barbara Shoenfeld of Muir Beach recounted how the car she and her son were riding in was nearly squashed against a hillside by a bus passing them on a bend in Frank Valley Road.

“You seem to think that 30 feet is short enough,” Shoenfeld said. “It should be shorter than that.”

Mickey Allison recalled the time that she was accompanying a school bus full of kids back from a trip to Slide Ranch and met a large tour bus going the opposite direction on Highway 1.

“It was the scariest thing I’ve seen,” Allison said.

Brenda Kohn of Muir Beach said, “There are daily reports from commuters of near miss encounters with oversize vehicles. In fact, it’s regular party talk.”

Kristin Shannon, who heads the Mount Tam Task Force, said, “What is needed is a comprehensive solution and not a piecemeal approach.”

“Since 2003, all the adjacent communities have had the same ask,” Shannon said. “To make Frank Valley Road and Muir Woods Road, from the junction with Highway 1 all the way through to Four Corners and Panoramic, clear of the safety and environmental risks attached with oversized buses.”

Only one tour bus representative spoke during the hearing.

Dave Berg, general manager of Golden Gate Transportation, said that side mirrors being knocked off buses as they pass each on Muir Woods Road and Frank Valley Road is not an uncommon occurrence. Berg, however, said in his 44 years of experience he was unaware of any serious accidents involving a tour bus. Berg said that prohibiting buses over 30 feet in length from the easterly portion of Muir Wood Road would result in more buses making the trip, since each bus would be able to carry fewer people.

Regarding the fear of collisions, Berg said, “I think one solution might be to lower the speed limit.”